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User blog:Rac Ward/Finding The Crescent Lightning
Finding Rainbow Dash A Fallout Equestria Fan Fic By Rac Ward Part One: Preparing To Leave Fluttershy sat watching the sunrise over the canopy of the Everfree forest. Seeing the sun rise over Equestria driving back the dark of the night she thought was a perfect metaphor for how things were since the Great War. Rebuilding the world after she had a hoof in destroying it was a slow agonizing process. There were still groups of Red Eye holdouts all over Equestria, even with the Talon’s guarding the skies and watching over pony convoys as they traveled the land but that wasn’t enough to keep everypony safe. Numerous times Fluttershy had tried to appeal to the Grand Pegasus Enclave for help in patrolling the skies and watching out for their earth bound ponies but these appeals for help had fallen onto deaf ears. Civil war was brewing among the Pegasus community. The Dashites had formed their own city in the clouds, they called it New Cloudsdale. What the Pegasus’s needed was a leader to unify them again; the problem was that finding a leader would be difficult. The Enclave had made a nasty habit of assassinating any Dashite they captured. Recently some information had been brought to Fluttershy’s attention, the Enclave kept records on everypony that left and became a Dashite. These records also included information on the first Dashite, her friend Rainbow Dash. The fate of what happened to Rainbow Dash had haunted Fluttershy since the Littlepip sacrificed herself in order to bring peace to Equestria some fifteen years ago, now that there was relative peace across the land, Fluttershy hoped that Rainbow Dash’s fate might finally be answered. A knock at her door woke Fluttershy out of her thoughts, trotting over to the door she opened it to see Gem standing there. Gem was an earth pony with a light green coat and sky blue eyes, her cutie mark was two scrolls curled around a diamond. Gem acted as Fluttershy’s secretary, she sorted out what information she needed to know about the ongoings in Equestria day by day. Gem handed Fluttershy a small clipboard with a small stack of papers attached to it. The information Fluttershy was reading had been obtained by a Dashite who had recently left the Enclave. As she flipped through the stack of small papers she noticed the phrase, “Tomb of Dash” repeated over and over again. Fluttershy said to herself, “What in the hay did that mean?” Gem looked at Fluttershy and said, “Ma’am?” Fluttershy looks at Gem and says, “Find Airborne and bring him to me.” Gem nodded and exited Fluttershy’s office. Airborne sat against a large pockmarked boulder, his faded tan cowboy hat pulled down over his face. His coat was a light grey color; his cutie mark on his side was a parachute with a star attached to the end of it. His ears perk as he hears something opening his eyes he sees a small shadow approaching him. Stretching out his wings and basking in the sun while he can, he waits a little longer as the small shape approached closer. Training his battle-saddle on the target he prepares to bite down on the gun bit when the form cries, “Airborne! It’s me!” Airborne doesn’t fire but cautiously lets the pony approach. As pony gets closer he sees its Starshine, a Pegasus pony that left the Enclave with him. Airborne always admired Starshine even when they were still living in the Enclave. Her coat was white and her mane was red though it was covered in dirt. Her green eyes looked at him and said, “Its been forever Airborne, glad to see the Enclave hasn’t killed you.” Airborne smiled, “Good to see you Starshine, what brings you to these parts?” Starshine looks into Airborne’s blue eyes and says, “Fluttershy needs you.” Airborne shifts from hoof to hoof and ponders it over, “Why does she want to speak with me?” Starshine says, “She said it was important and that the location of something called the Tomb of Dash had been found.” Airborne’s jaw dropped slightly and said, “Fine I will come with you.” Starshine smiled and replies “Follow me.” Starshine flaps her wings and lifts off with Airborne following closely behind. It only took a few hours to reach Fluttershy’s compound. Landing in the courtyard of a heavy fortified compound, Airborne looks around at the various ponies milling about on the walls carrying slung weapons around their necks, others who could use magic levitate them and point the weapons out over the walls at the unforgiving expanse of the wasteland. Trotting behind Starshine following her to Fluttershy’s office, passing through numerous security checkpoints guarded by some heavily scarred guards, at the first checkpoint Airborne was forced to remove his battle-saddle without it he felt vulnerable. Entering Fluttershy’s office she turns and says, “Hello Airborne, it has been awhile hasn’t it?” Airborne sits down in a chair in front of her desk and says, “Yep, it sure has been Fluttershy. So what do you want?” Fluttershy smiles and replies, “Blunt as always Airborne, I can see you want to get down to business so here is my proposal to you.” Airborne takes an apple from a bowl on her desk and bites into it, then says, “Well then let’s hear it.” Airborne continues to chew on the apple while Starshine stands behind him waiting for Fluttershy to spill her secrets to Airborne. Fluttershy says, “As you know the Enclave still is refusing to cooperate with us in helping to protect Equestria. Despite the Talons best efforts they haven’t been able to protect every traveler on the roads, frequent bandit attacks still plague many ponies coming and going as they please. Another problem is that the Pegasus Enclave now faces all out civil war with the Dashites who they have been hunting with extreme prejudice. You Airborne are one of the lucky ones, you have managed to survive in the wasteland and avoid the Enclave assassin squads.” Airborne nods in agreement and smiles slightly. Fluttershy continues to say, “What the Pegasus community needs is a leader, someone whom everyone would listen to and follow as an example. Which is why I need your help finding a very old friend of mine and someone I am sure you are very familiar with.” Airborne replies, “From what I understand Fluttershy is that most of your old friends died in the war. The one I am sure you are alluding to hasn’t been seen in a very long time. In fact no one knows what happened to her, not even the Enclave managed to find her whereabouts.” Fluttershy says, “That’s where you’re wrong Airborne, they did know what happened to her even where she is even if her final location is still vague.” Airborne stands up and says, “Vague, you mean to tell me that you call me in on some wild pony chase when you don’t even fully know where Rainbow Dash is!” The guards outside the room say, “Miss Fluttershy are you okay? Do you need help?” Fluttershy calmly says, “No that won’t be necessary, I am quite alright.” Looking back at Airborne she says, “Please calm down and let me explain.” Airborne sits back down in the chair breathing heavily. Fluttershy goes on to say, “Tell me Airborne how long has it been since your family has lived with the shame of Lightning Dust?” Airborne tries to say something but tightly closes his mouth and slumps down into the chair hiding his eyes beneath the brim of his hat. He slowly lifts his head and says, “It has been a long time since my many times great-grandmother was kicked out of the Wonderbolt Academy for her recklessness. She always carried the shame of her expulsion with her even when she met possibly the only good thing to come out of her time at the Academy when she met my great grandfather Thunderlane who she shortly married thereafter. After having kids with Thunderlane the shame of her time was still present when she fought in the war against the zebra’s she was even wounded during the war and brought to Cloudsdale Veteran’s Hospital the day when everything came to an end. The day the zebra’s destroyed Cloudsdale with their balefire bombs the shame was still present when the flame of her life was incinerated for the briefest moment by the bombs. Thunderlane died shortly thereafter when Manehattan was destroyed by the bombs, he was stationed there prior to the cities destruction. Since then countless generations of my family have carried Lightning Dust’s shame and have sought to cleanse the sins of my family.” Fluttershy replies, “I can offer you that chance Airborne, you need but find Rainbow Dash and bring her here so she can right her own wrongs.” Airborne says, “How do you know she is even alive?” Fluttershy says, “Gem hand me the terminal transmission if you please.” The small pony behind Fluttershy places the small tablet in front of Airborne who watches as the screen flickers to life as a face appears. The screen shows a face of a sky blue Pegasus with purple eyes. The Pegasus says, “I never meant for any of this to happen, everything is lost because of me. As everything ends I cannot help but think back to a happier time with my friends before the war. In the end maybe I should have refused the Princess when she offered to make me the head of the Ministry of Awesome. But regrets have not gotten me this far, please if anyone gets this message I am currently hiding in…” The message cuts out and Airborne looks at Fluttershy and says, “Well where’s the rest of it?” Fluttershy replies, “We don’t know but there are rumors that before the end of the war, Rainbow Dash imported massive amounts of arcane technology and unknown magic from the Crystal Empire. Airborne I need you to travel to the ruins of the Crystal Empire and uncover any records of what Rainbow Dash did and maybe then we can get a better sense of where she is.” Airborne mulls it over and says, “You can count on me Fluttershy, I will bring you any information on what Rainbow Dash was doing in the Crystal Empire.” Fluttershy smiles and replies, “Very well Airborne, but you will not be going alone. Starshine you will go with him and I will send Celestial and Darkstar with you.” Airborne nods and says, “I will need some supplies before I go and I could use a good rest before then.” Fluttershy says, “We will give you everything you will need before you go until then, Gem will show you to a room you can stay in and rest up till then.” Gem gestures to Airborne to follow her and they leave Fluttershy’s office, as they leave Fluttershy says to Starshine, “It is of the upmost importance that Airborne find Rainbow Dash, please ensure his safety whatever the cost.” Starshine nods and responds, “Understood ma’am.” Airborne was escorted to a small room with a bed, through the broken shade slats let in a small amount of light that only illuminated a corner of the room. Flopping down onto the bed Airborne tips the brim of his wide hat down thinking, ''“I can’t remember the last time I slept on a bed.” ''Hours passed before there was a knock at the door, pushing the brim of his hat back on his head and opening a bleary eye Airborne says, “Come in.” Starshine trots through the doorway smiling at Airborne saying, “So are you ready?” He nods, “When do we have to leave?” Starshine replies, “In a few hours, just enough time to stock up on supplies.” Airborne leans over the side of the bed and says, “Alright let’s go.” Airborne checked his battle-saddle for wear and tear, Starshine stood underneath a tent collecting ammunition. Two ponies stood nearby, one had a black coat with a deeply scarred face, and his cutie mark was a star. The other wore heavily armored barding with two automatic shotguns on her battle-saddle; her face was hidden by a grey mane only one emerald eye peered out from underneath her mane. Starshine trots over to Airborne with the two ponies following behind. Starshine says, “Airborne, this is Darkstar and Celestial.” Darkstar says in a gruff voice, “Hello” Celestial doesn’t say anything and Airborne smiles and says, “Hi?” Starshine says, “Sorry Airborne, Celestial can’t talk after the raiders cut her throat.” Celestial leans back showing an ugly puckered scar across her throat, Airborne tries not to stare but instead smiles at Celestial who smiles back. As Airborne loads supplies into his saddlebags, Fluttershy trots over. Every head in the compound swivels to look at her as she approaches Airborne. Airborne looks at Fluttershy and says, “Hello ma’am, what can I do for you?” she replies, “Airborne, I wanted to thank you for taking on this dangerous task. Please be careful.” Airborne nodded and replies, “I will be Fluttershy.” A few hours later Airborne left the compound with Starshine, Darkstar and Celestial following behind him. Making their way towards the nearest rail line at an outpost located not far from Fluttershy’s compound, Airborne thought that the Wasteland had changed little since he left the Enclave. It was still as barren as the day he arrived, covered in twisted metal fragments and burnt husks that were once somepony’s home. Here and there a skull dotted the landscape where grass and other small shrubs sought refuge in their shadows from the harsh sunshine. In this endless monotony the shapes of a distance settlement brought any traveler to tears to get out of this depressing setting that was once a beautiful land filled with life that now only contained death in every form. Airborne had become use to the brutality of the Wasteland, it has sunk into his very soul. He had seen ponies kill each other over water, spare bullets, and scraps of dirty blankets. The fact that his own people have left the ponies of Equestria to live in such misery made his heart heavy as they approached the outpost. As the group approached the outpost Airborne looked at the pitiful collection of ramshackle buildings that seemed to be only held up by time itself. The wooden frames had long since rotted to the point where a strong wind could blow them over, they were held together by bits and pieces of metal either nailed together or held in place by old pieces of frayed rope. A train was parked on the rails in front of the station, the engineer and conductor stood on the platform discussing something when they stopped and saw Airborne’s group approach. The engineer pony, a grey pony with a faded cap perched back on his head opened his mouth and said, “You must be the group Ms. Fluttershy told us to expect.” Airborne nodded and replied, “Yup, we are. She said you can get us to the Crystal Empire safely.” The conductor looked at the engineer who started to crack a smile before the both of them started to laugh. Airborne looked at them then to his companions who shrugged in confusion. “I guess I missed something because I don’t get what’s so funny.” The engineer pony looking at Airborne replies, “Son, the trip to the Crystal Empire ruins is treacherous, you think this Wasteland is bad just wait until we cross into the frozen hellhole that the Empire has become.” Airborne gulped nervously and took two steps back from the train getting ready to run. He bumped into something and turned to see Starshine standing there, she says, “Whatever challenges we face in the Empire, I got your back. We all do.” Airborne stops and looks at her then to Darkstar and Celestial who nod their heads in agreement. Airborne boards the train and takes a seat by the window with Starshine settling in on a bench opposite to him, Darkstar takes a seat at the front of the passenger car and Celestial taking up a seat at the rear of the car. As the train lurches out of the station Airborne tips the brim of his hat down and says to Starshine, “Let me know when we get there” she replies, “I will.” Airborne settles down onto the bench and slips into the comforting arms of a blissful rest as the train steams north towards the frozen remains of the once great Crystal Empire. Category:Blog posts